


we should pretend

by scorpiohs



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Artist Steve Rogers, Bisexual Sam Wilson, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Cheesy, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Gay Bucky Barnes, Halloween, Idiots in Love, Kissing, Lesbian Maria Hill, Lesbian Sharon Carter (Marvel), M/M, Minor Nakia (Black Panther)/T'Challa, Minor Natasha Romanov/Sam Wilson, Minor Sharon Carter/ Maria Hill, Mutual Pining, Past Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, Past Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Past Riley/Sam Wilson, Pining, Sam Wilson is a Gift, Sharing a Bed, Smut, lots of tropes, really self-indulgent, steve's anxiety (very minor but present)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:53:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29009343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scorpiohs/pseuds/scorpiohs
Summary: Bucky turns to Steve. “Wait. I have an idea.” He turns off the TV and shifts his body to face Steve fully, bringing his feet up on the couch and his legs to his chest.Steve raises an eyebrow because that sentence from Bucky’s mouth has gotten him into some trouble in the past.“We should pretend.”Steve’s confused now. “Pretend what?”“Pretend to date!”
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 61
Collections: Stucky Bingo 2020





	1. have fun on your date, you two!

**Author's Note:**

> filling square d4, "fake dating"

Steve’s phone buzzes in his pocket on his way to the cafe.

**_Bucky_** _: sorry gonna be a few mins late!!_

He smiles as he watches the following texts come through in the group chat, eye roll emojis, and sarcastic jabs. Bucky’s never been particularly punctual, especially to Sunday coffee afternoons. He works a shift at the boxing gym weekend mornings and always misses the subway from there back into town.

Steve loves Sunday afternoons. He used to hate them, back when he was in school, deadlines looming, the coming week looking more and more bleak by the hour. But now, it’s one of the best parts of his week.

Every Sunday, he and his friends have a standing date at a local coffee shop, just to make sure they’re always making time for each other, even with their busy schedules. It helps that the place is incredible, and just a short walk from the apartment he shares with Sam and Bucky.

When Steve steps into the cafe, he sees T’Challa, Maria, Sam, and Natasha at their usual table in the corner. He waves, then gets in line.

While he’s here, he might as well get Bucky’s order, too, so it’ll be ready when he arrives. So he orders a latte and cheese danish for himself, then an Earl Grey tea and blueberry muffin for Bucky. He doesn’t have to wait long, another great thing about the cafe, before getting the orders.

“You two are so cute,” Natasha beams as Steve sits down with the two drinks and pastries.

Steve rolls his eyes. He doesn’t even need to ask; he’s been teased enough for this, among other Bucky related things, before. “Because I know his order?”

“And you got it for him,” Maria chimes in.

“Yeah, man, he’s gonna be here in like three minutes anyways…”

Steve glares at Sam for contributing. “So what? His stuff will be ready when he gets here then! I don’t see what the big deal is,” Steve says, taking a sip of his coffee.

Every time Steve tries to do something nice for Bucky, he gets accused of being in love with him. Sure, he and Bucky are close, always have been, but it doesn’t mean anything.

The group seems to have taken their close friendship and run with it, though, because whenever Bucky’s not around, even sometimes when he is, Steve gets the comments and the looks and the smiles. Not that he minds it terribly, he knows they mean well. He wonders if they do it in front of Bucky, too, or just him. 

They move on, starting to chat about their weeks. Natasha apparently has a date tonight, so that becomes the focus of the group’s attention instead.

“I can’t remember the last time you went on a date,” T’Challa notes. Steve can’t say he disagrees with the surprise on T’Challa’s face.

“Probably haven’t since Clint,” she replies, shrugging.

“What’re they like?” Sam asks, crossing his arms and tucks himself back in his chair.

“His name’s Bruce,” Natasha says, a small smile creeping onto her face. “Met him at work the other day, seemed nice.”

“And that was it?” Steve asks. “All these years, you won’t go out with anyone, but this one guy seems nice, and you’re sold?”

“It seemed like it was about time,” Natasha huffs. “Not gonna marry him or anything.”

“You’re getting married?” a voice from behind Steve asks. He turns around to see Bucky, sweaty from the gym and the commute but a wide smile on his face outshining everything else.

" _Not_ getting married,” Natasha repeats, as Bucky sits down next to Steve.

Steve lightly pushes Bucky’s food and drink towards him, and he lights up even more. “Thanks, Stevie.”

“No problem,” he replies, suddenly a little flustered because it feels like everyone’s eyes are on him. “So, Natasha’s got a date tonight!”

“Oh my God, really?” Bucky turns to Natasha, who’s ignoring his gaze.

“I know, right?” Maria says, nudging Natasha.

“So do I,” Sam adds, reaching forward to grab a potato chip off of Natasha’s plate.

She scrunches her nose at him but gives in. “Oh, do you?”

“A hot date with some Chinese takeout and the paperwork I have to get done for the VA,” he says with a grin.

“I actually do have a date,” T’Challa pipes up.

“Well, you have a girlfriend so that’s not a surprise to any of us,” Bucky says.

“Jealousy does not become you, James,” T’Challa chides with a smile.

“Pfft,” Bucky scoffs. “While all of you are on your stupid little dates, Steve and I will be home, finally putting up Halloween decorations, so ha!”

Steve blushes preemptively, anticipating the taunting to come.

“I hope he’s buying you dinner first, Rogers,” Sam starts, taking a sip of his green tea.

“Sam’s right, sounds pretty steamy to me,” Maria adds. “Make sure you use protection.”

“We’re not gonna accidentally put the candles too close to the paper ghosts and set off the fire alarm like last time, if that’s what you’re implying,” Bucky shoots back with a grin, seeming to recover quickly from the accusation.

But Steve feels his face turn bright red at the mere idea of him and Bucky in that way… Not that he hasn’t thought about it before. Bucky’s an attractive man. But it’s always caused him to spin into a mess of ugly overthinking and panic, so he’s resolved not to think of his best friend that way.

The rest of their coffee hour goes by without another joke about him and Bucky, and before he knows it, he’s heading back to his apartment with Sam and Bucky.

“You’re seriously not gonna help us put up the decorations?” Bucky whines, completely kidding, when the three of them arrive home.

“Even if I didn’t have a shit ton of work, the answer would still be no,” Sam says, chuckling, and packing up his backpack of files to head to the VA.

“You’re just scared of Halloween,” Steve teases, settling down on the couch.

“Am not!”

“Remember last year when you got scared by that little kid’s goblin costume?” Bucky snickers.

“He was hiding behind the rest of the trick-or-treaters, then he just, _emerged!_ ” Sam argues.

“We’ll try not to put up the super scary decorations,” Steve assures him.

Sam grins and heads out, but not before calling, “Have fun on your date, you two!”

Bucky rolls his eyes and joins Steve on the couch.

“What’s with everyone today?” he asks, turning on the TV.

“What do you mean?”

“With all the teasing about us dating,” Bucky replies casually, flipping through the channels.

Steve doesn’t quite know what to say to that. He and Bucky have never really talked about it before. “Oh, well, uh, I mean… don’t they say that stuff to you normally? They say it to me.” Maybe they only say it to Steve because he’s been single for so long. Bucky goes on dates. They must think Steve’s a pining idiot and are trying to get him to get it together. 

Bucky pauses. “I guess? Not this much, or maybe just not in front of both of us.”

“Right?” Steve says. “They like to jab at me about it when you’re not there usually, but maybe they’re escalating it.”

Bucky turns to Steve. “Wait. I have an idea.” He turns off the TV and shifts his body to face Steve fully, bringing his feet up on the couch and his legs to his chest.

Steve raises an eyebrow because that sentence from Bucky’s mouth has gotten him into some trouble in the past.

“We should pretend.”

Steve’s confused now. “Pretend what?”

“Pretend to date!”

Steve’s mind goes blank as he tries to formulate a response.

Luckily, Bucky seems prepared to answer his questions: “Think about it. They’d love to find out they were ‘right’ but then we could break up and say we weren’t meant to be or something. They’d leave us alone after that.”

“You wanna lie to them?” Steve asks, biting his lip.

“Only for a little… I think we can tell them eventually. But I think to teach them a lesson, we can at least ‘try’ and tell them it didn’t work out. Should stop their little game,” Bucky says, smirking.

“You’re so devious,” Steve laughs. “But fine. I’ll do it.”

“Aw, babe, don’t sound so upset about dating me,” Bucky replies, but he can hardly get through the sentence without laughing.

Steve chuckles. “I have a hard time saying no to your bad ideas, don’t expect me to be happy about it.”

As weird as an idea as it is, Steve thinks that it just might work. He’s kind of sick of all the taunting, especially when he thinks he’d _know_ if he was in love with Bucky. No way would Natasha or Sam or anyone know before him, even if they are his best friends. And there is a small part of him that likes to win, to prove people wrong.

They hammer out the details of their plan. In the eyes of their friends, the Halloween decorations date is really gonna turn out to be a date. They’ll watch a scary movie after dinner and decorating, end up cuddling and confessing their feelings. Simple as that.

They can go on “dates” because they’ll hang out together anyway, just hold hands in front of their friends and Bucky will pretend to sleep in Steve’s room every night. Neither of them has really ever been big fans of too much PDA, so they shouldn’t need to kiss in front of their friends or anything. Nothing really has to change that much, and then things can go back to normal.

It might be a little difficult because Sam is their roommate so they do have to be “on” more often. But between all their schedules, there’s not a lot of time that they’re all at the apartment besides late night and early morning anyway.

Steve still thinks this is a little crazy. But it’s essentially just a game. A little “I told you so” never hurt anyone. Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come talk to me on [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/daydreamsteve) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/daydreamsteve) <3


	2. sex hair? oh, god.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On their way to go to bed, Bucky asks, “Can we hold hands? As practice?”
> 
> Steve can’t help but smirk. “Bucky Barnes needs practice to hold hands?”

Steve and Bucky put up the Halloween decorations just fine; no paper ghosts near the autumn-scented candles that Bucky loves and Steve tolerates. They get pizza and rent a movie, and their plan commences.

“So, am I the scared one who needs to cuddle during this movie?” Steve asks, mouth full of pizza.

“Duh,” Bucky replies, nudging him.

“Do you notice how in distress I am or is there I jump scare where I jump you?” Steve teases.

“I think the second one.” Bucky winks.

Steve rolls his eyes. “Fine, then what?”

“We watch the rest of the movie like that, and when it ends, we’re cuddling and we’re forced to confront it.”

“But you talk first, and you ‘confess your feelings’ first.”

“Okay, what do I say?”

“Well, we’ll just tell them that the conversation was private but that we realized we both liked each other.” Steve shrugs. This is requiring more thinking than he thought it would. “How are we gonna tell them?”

“I think we should let them find out. You don’t need to get up early tomorrow, right?” Steve nods, so Bucky continues. “Sam and I do, so once I hear him in the kitchen tomorrow, I’ll come out of your room with like sex hair and he’ll put it together.”

Steve laughs. “Sex hair? Oh, God.”

“What? Our feelings have been building up for years so once we get it together, we have to fuck it out.” 

“I guess you’re right.”

“Sam will see, I’ll confirm what he’s thinking, and he’ll tell the group.”

Bucky can scheme well when he wants to, it appears. He has a strategic mind. He also knows their friends very well. Steve can already tell this is gonna play out as planned.

Ever the mastermind, Bucky fills Steve in on the rest of the details. He’ll wake up early and slip into Steve’s room, where he will wait until Sam’s in the kitchen (“I won’t watch you sleep, weirdo, I’ll bring a book and sit on the floor,”) and then make his grand entrance.

It all sounds good to Steve. 

On their way to go to bed, Bucky asks, “Can we hold hands? As practice?”

Steve can’t help but smirk. “Bucky Barnes needs practice to hold hands?”

Bucky rolls his eyes. “I need to practice holding  _ your _ hand, punk. We need to seem like we’ve done it before and I can already see you fumbling about and blushing and making it really obvious that it’s fake.”

“Fine, fine,” Steve says with a smile. He walks over to Bucky and holds his hand out.

Bucky takes it, slowly intertwining their fingers until their palms are pressed together. They stand like that for a second, just looking at their hands. Steve has to admit it feels nice. He’s forgotten what it’s like to be in the sweet, early stages of a relationship with somebody. To hold someone’s hand for the first time. Bucky’s right, he does blush a little.

But then Bucky pulls his hand away before Steve is prepared for it, says “Good job,” and heads into his room for the night. Steve shakes it off because Bucky is no night owl and he’s probably just tired from work and being an evil genius. It’s not the first time either one of them has been a little cranky past their bedtimes.

Steve, on the other hand, can’t stop thinking about Bucky’s hand in his. It’s weird, he knows, but that’s the most action he’s gotten in months. He has to admit, he misses intimacy, romantic touch.

It has nothing to do with Bucky, but Steve falls asleep with him at the front of his mind.

* * *

When Steve wakes up the next morning, the first thing he does is check his phone. As expected, there are a ton of texts in the groupchat with his friends.

Bucky said he was gonna give Sam permission to break the news, so the first text is one from him that reads: “BUCKY CAME OUT OF STEVE’S ROOM THIS MORNING LOOKING LIKE THIS” with a picture attached of Bucky, yes, with the “sex hair.” Plus a t-shirt of Steve’s and just boxers. Good details on Bucky’s part.

Apparently, that was all they needed.

**_Maria_ ** _ : about fucking time _

**_Natasha_ ** _ : I love being right _

**_T’Challa_ ** _ : Congratulations, lovebirds. We’ve been waiting for a long time. A LONG time. _

**_Maria_ ** _ : omg sharon owes me $20 _

**_Sam_ ** _ : You bet your own gf they would get together? _

**_Maria_ ** _ : we alternate months _

**_Maria_ ** _ : bc who would bet against that lol _

**_Maria_ ** _ : glad you boys held out until the beginning of october _

**_Bucky_ ** _ : okay yes, yes it’s true. steve and i are together now. we expect respect and privacy at this time so we can fuck each other’s brains out _

Steve guffaws at that, but he expects that if this were real, Bucky  _ would  _ say something like that. The following texts are some variation of “gross” and “get a room.”

It looks like the plan is in action. It’s not really gonna affect Steve that much today, though. It’s a work from home day, so he’s not gonna see anyone until Bucky and Sam come home later.

Or so he thinks. Around lunchtime, there’s a knock on the door. He gets up from his sketchbook and opens the door to find Natasha, takeout in hand, already walking into the place.

“Hello to you, too,” he says, locking the door after her.

She spins around and smiles. “How’s your boyfriend?”

Steve almost forgets about the ruse but catches himself and replies, “Fantastic. But as you know, he’s at work.”

“I know. I just thought I would stop by to congratulate you. Make sure you’re still walking right and all.”

He snorts. “I’m doing just fine.”

“I’m not here to grill you for details or anything. I know that everyone else is already going to.” She sits down at the counter and opens the bag. “I just wanted to say ‘I told you so.’”

“Well, you were right,” Steve says, forcing a smile and sitting down next to Natasha. She doesn’t say anything else, just starts eating, so he asks, “How was your date last night?”

“Fine. Nothing special.” She pauses. “Clint’s getting married.”

Steve’s face drops a little at that. When Clint and Natasha broke up a few years ago, she was unlike Steve had ever seen her, or seen her since. They were really in love but, in Natasha’s words, “sometimes love doesn’t work out.”

“So you went on a date to feel better,” Steve says, putting it together. “Do you?”

She nods. “Guess I just wanted to prove I can still do it, and I can. Good to know.”

“You’re not still… with Clint, you’re-”

“I’m not still in love with him, no. But it sucks to be alone when the person you once thought you’d marry gets married.” She shrugs, as if this isn’t the most vulnerability she’s shown Steve in quite awhile.

He doesn’t really know what to do besides hug her so he does. She leans into it, he notices, smiling because she didn’t always used to.

Steve has only been heartbroken once in his life, when he and his college sweetheart, Peggy, broke up. They were headed in different directions, physically and mentally, and as much as he loved her, the breakup was more about mourning the loss of a dream than a person. He and Peggy were good friends, and Steve had never been in love before, so he wore rose-colored glasses the whole time and ignored all the signs that maybe they weren’t always great together.

Guess he’s gonna have to say the same thing happened with Bucky now. Some people are better off as friends.

He and Natasha have a good lunch. The two of them have a way of making silence comfortable. She doesn’t ask more any questions about him and Bucky, which he’s grateful for, but at the same time, how is it so easy to accept that they just… got together? He always thought she’d been kidding when she told them what a cute couple they’d make. Maybe she’d really believed it. Something he doesn’t wanna think about.

Once Natasha leaves, Steve concentrates on his work and the hours fly by. No one’s home by the time he’s done, so he pulls out his personal sketchbook and flips to a blank page. He finds himself drawing hands. Well, not just any hands. Bucky’s. Bucky’s hand in his. He’d been ignoring it all day but the image of last night never really left his head. He sketches the lines of Bucky’s arm, the hard and soft angles of it, the light dusting of hair across his skin, the thickness of his fingers and the-

“Honey, I’m home!”

Steve turns around to see Bucky in the doorway. “Hey, how was work?” he asks, slamming his sketchbook shut.

“Same old,” Bucky replies, coming over and giving Steve a kiss on the head. Heat rushes to Steve’s face but Bucky just walks into the kitchen, asking, “Convincing?”

Steve gulps. “Yeah!” he calls, shakily.

“Sam was on my ass this morning, asking who finally made the first move, who kissed who first, blah, blah, blah,” Bucky tells him, grabbing a glass of water. “Just wanna be sure we’re ready for his intense investment in this fake relationship.”

Steve just nods, still reeling a little, and joins Bucky in the kitchen. “You think he’ll be able to tell we’re pretending?”

“Well, Sam’s smart and he lives with us. We need to make sure we act like it all the time.”

Steve checks his watch. “What time’s he coming home?”

“This morning he told me probably seven.”

“We could be in my room again when he gets home?”

Bucky grins. “Steve, you naughty boy.”

Steve rolls his eyes. “We can’t very well make out on the couch. What, are we just supposed to be sitting in the kitchen?”

“I guess you’re right.” Bucky finishes his water, pinches Steve’s cheek then struts into Steve’s room. “C’mon!”

Steve follows quickly and shuts the door behind them. Bucky is already reclining on the bed, making himself at home. Steve doesn’t wanna think about how he does look sort of at home there.

“So, this morning it was sex hair, is it sex noises now?” he jokes, sitting on the edge of his bed delicately. 

“That’s a good idea! When we hear him walk in, just start moaning.”

“Me? Why me?”

“I mean, I will, too, but they’ll be more like grunts.”

“Trying to keep some of your dignity?” Steve smirks.

“Just trying to be true to life,” Bucky responds, matching Steve’s expression.

Steve’s face turns red at the thought of hearing what Bucky sounds like during sex. Of how Bucky is gonna hear Steve pretend they’re having sex. Sure, they’ve heard things through the walls over the years, but this is different.

“Get some work done today?” Bucky asks, as if he didn’t just say what he said.

“Yeah!” Steve says, a little too excited about the subject change. “It’s a light week, which means I can spend more time on each piece.”

“Still getting to work on your own stuff?”

“Sure, a little.” He’s always been a little shy about sharing his own artwork with people, even Bucky. It always feels like someone is seeing inside of his brain, like someone’s looking at him naked. He stopped denying he was at least somewhat talented awhile ago, but he’s insecure about the things he makes. Things like drawings of his best friend’s really beautiful hands.

“Because I’m waiting for your debut at the Met,” Bucky tells him, kicking his ribcage gently.

Steve shoves him a little for that. “Shut up.”

“I’m serious!”

“Bucky, I’m not-”

They hear the front door opening and instantly, Bucky just lets out a low groan, smiling at Steve. The noise goes right to Steve’s dick and he’s too thrown off to react. Bucky swats his arm, and then he remembers that he’s supposed to be participating in this too.

“Oh, my god, Bucky,” he moans, elongating every word. “Right there!”

Bucky starts laughing, which makes Steve start laughing but they try to cover it up with other noises. The absurdity of it all relieves some of the tension in Steve’s body, but Bucky sounds so turned on that it’s turning Steve on, even if it’s fake. 

“Okay, now pretend you’re coming,” Bucky mumbles before grunting and hitting the headboard.

Steve rolls his eyes but begins to pant very loudly. “Same time,” he bargains under his breath.

“Fine.”

The two of them escalate their sounds until Bucky clamps a hand over Steve’s mouth to signal him to come down from it. Steve’s heart is racing, with Bucky’s hand right there. If things were as they used to be, he might stick his tongue out to get Bucky off of him, but that move would be different now. It might mean something else.

He lets Bucky handle the descent, the pace of their breathing, and just follows his lead. How much fake sex has he had that he knows how to do this so well?

Before getting up, Bucky runs a hand through Steve’s hair and messes it up. “Sex hair,” he says plainly, before touching up his own and walking out the door.

“Sam! I didn’t know you were home!” Steve hears Bucky say.

Meanwhile, Steve’s still sprawled on his bed, strung out from some make-believe quickie. This is not gonna be as easy as he thought. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi hi hi !!!! i hope u liked this chapter :) this story might be longer than originally planned? so stay tuned !!


	3. kiss! kiss! kiss!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What this means for him, though, is that he and Bucky will really have to perform. Especially if they drink, it’d be weird if they weren’t a least a little handsy with each other.
> 
> Bucky’s been a natural so far. Never going too far but always doing just enough to make it seem like he actually does like Steve. Steve, on the other hand, has gotten less awkward about receiving the touches, sure, but has barely been able to initiate anything.
> 
> It’s strange having to suddenly be overly affectionate with your best friend. But what’s stranger is how natural it feels already. When Bucky holds his hand, Steve just feels his chest flutter and then leans into the touch, and that’s that. It took a minute to get used to, but now Steve expects, and sort of likes, cuddling on the couch. In moments like that, he forgets they’re faking.

They play out their plan perfectly for the next few days. Bucky sleeps in his own room but sneaks in and out of Steve’s when Sam’s around. Bucky puts his arm around Steve when the three of them watch TV. They have more fake sex, albeit quieter because Sam “doesn’t need to hear you two getting it on all the time.” The routine starts to feel almost normal.

But then it’s Friday and they’re supposed to go out with their friends, which means faking it in front of everybody. And it’ll be a double date sort of situation: Maria’s bringing Sharon, T’Challa’s bringing Nakia. Only Sam and Natasha won’t be with a partner, but knowing how these nights normally go, Steve suspects they’ll each find someone to go home with.

What this means for him, though, is that he and Bucky will really have to perform. Especially if they drink, it’d be weird if they weren’t a least a little handsy with each other.

Bucky’s been a natural so far. Never going too far but always doing just enough to make it seem like he actually does like Steve. Steve, on the other hand, has gotten less awkward about receiving the touches, sure, but has barely been able to initiate anything.

It’s strange having to suddenly be overly affectionate with your best friend. But what’s stranger is how natural it feels already. When Bucky holds his hand, Steve just feels his chest flutter and then leans into the touch, and that’s that. It took a minute to get used to, but now Steve expects, and sort of likes, cuddling on the couch. In moments like that, he forgets they’re faking.

But he knows that it’ll be different with everyone there. So before they go out, Steve goes knocking on Bucky’s door and shares his concerns.

“Looks like you’re the one who needs practice now,” Bucky says, cheekily, slipping a hand in the back pocket of Steve’s jeans.

Steve tries not to show how much the touch affects him and just says, “This is the big test. They’re all gonna be there.”

“And you don’t think we can pretend we can’t keep our hands off of each other?” Bucky asks in mock pain. “Everyone’ll be drunk, or distracted. They’re not gonna be counting how many times we touch each other.”

Steve’s not so sure about that. He knows his friends, and he can already see them chanting, “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” at Steve and Bucky when they’re all a little tipsy.

So he takes a deep breath and asks, “Can I kiss you? Right now, for practice?”

This is the first time Steve sees Bucky have any sort of hesitant reaction to something involving their scheme. His mouth drops open a little, but he doesn’t say anything.

“C’mon, I’m not that bad at it,” Steve adds, trying to lighten the mood.

But Bucky just nods, and says, “Okay.”

“Okay,” Steve says back, slowly stepping forward.

So maybe Steve wants to kiss Bucky for more than just strictly  _ practice _ . He’s been wondering what it’s like, honestly. They’re pretending to fuck every night for God’s sake, it’s not weird to think about what it would be like to kiss the guy.

It doesn’t help that Bucky looks gorgeous tonight. He looks like he just stepped out of a catalog. He’s in a clean, blue button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Not that Steve’s looking at his arms but yeah, Bucky has nice arms. One flesh, one prosthetic, and Steve thinks they’re fantastic. Like, objectively.

Now he steps closer to Steve until they’re standing so close, too close not to be touching. So Bucky lifts a hand and cups Steve’s jaw, his eyes dark and focused. Steve can feel the world stop at this alone, so he just lets it happen, lets Bucky lean forward and brush their lips together. 

But when they touch, Steve can’t help but grab at Bucky’s waist to bring him flush to his body. He can’t help but dive back in after each kiss. It feels natural. He forgets why they’re even doing it and just thinks,  _ Why haven’t we done this before? _

Then Bucky pulls away. Which is probably a good thing because they’re not supposed to be making out for real. They’re both panting a little and avoiding eye contact and Steve can hear his heartbeat in his ears.

“Okay.” Bucky clears his throat. “Good, we’re good.” He shakes out his head a little. “Ready to go?”

Steve nods, trying to control his breathing and the flood of thoughts rushing to his mind.  _ Holy shit _ , being the primary one.

Bucky strides out of the room and Steve follows. They stand in silence by the door, waiting for Sam to emerge from his room. When he does, Bucky grabs Steve’s hand, which jolts him a little.

“You good, Steve?” Sam asks, getting a jacket.

“Yeah!” Steve chirps in response, as Bucky gives him a puzzled look and squeezes his hand. “I’m good,” he says, looking at Bucky.

The three of them head out, Steve barely even present because he’s thinking about what just happened. They kissed… he and Bucky actually kissed. And Steve liked it. He more than liked it. He never wanted it to end.

It’s not really a convenient time for him to flip out about it, though, because they arrive at the bar pretty quickly. Maria and Sharon are already there, huddled together in the corner booth that the group usually tries to get at this bar. When they see the guys, they smile and wave them over.

They’re barely a second past the standard greetings before Maria turns to Steve and Bucky and asks, “So, how’s married life treating you?”

Bucky puts an arm around Steve and laughs. “Wonderfully, thanks for asking.”

Steve forces a smile and accepts the touch, but a temptation to leave flares up within him.

He loves hanging out with his friends but sometimes he gets a little out of it, a little anxious or on edge. Bucky’s always been great about being there for him when that happens, going home early with him or just stepping outside for fresh air. 

Tonight is not one of those times. Steve’s okay, he just wants to  _ go  _ with Bucky, like they’re a real couple. He wants to get into bed with him and share the blankets and maybe kiss him again.

But he doesn’t want to think about what that all means, so he tunes back into the conversation.

“Yeah, it just sort of happened,” Bucky is saying, while Sam’s up ordering them all a round because he’s heard the story already.

“I always knew it would,” Maria says. “Didn’t I always say that?” She nudges Sharon playfully.

“And I agreed!” Sharon replies. “But seriously, we’re happy for you guys.”

But that’s the extent of the conversation about him and Bucky, which sort of unsettles him. Their friends are buying this so easily. They’re acting like this is normal, too.

Steve smiles at them then looks around to see that Natasha has joined Sam at the bar, probably to help him carry the drinks over. He’s starting to feel a little bad about pulling this over on all of them. Not that they don’t deserve it a little, with how self-righteous they’re all being about them dating. But, still. Based on all the reactions so far, it seems like they’re gonna be a little sad when they "break up."

Whatever anxiety Steve is feeling falls away a little bit, and the night is fun. He sort of forgets his predicament. Except for essentially cuddling Bucky in the booth, everything is normal. And even that feels a little normal at this point.

He has a pretty high alcohol tolerance, so even after a few drinks, he doesn’t feel much. Just that nice sort of hazy. No one seems too drunk, either, even with Natasha poking Sam to annoy him, and Sharon laughing loudly and often. It’s nice to see everyone having fun. They’re all kind of busy these days but nights like this bring them back to college a few years ago, being carefree and hanging out together.

Sharon and Maria head out sort of early, Maria half-asleep and resting her head on Sharon’s shoulder. Sam and Natasha have disappeared at this point, and Nakia left already, too. Bucky and T’Challa are engaged in some conversation about the future of technology or whatever, while Steve sleepily clings to Bucky’s side. He wants to go home but knows when he does, the rouse is up, especially with Sam likely out for the night. Steve doesn’t wanna stay in a bar all night but at least here he can be Bucky’s boyfriend.

He throws that thought of out his mind because no, he doesn’t wanna be Bucky’s boyfriend, he just wants to be  _ someone’s _ . This whole thing is just awakening that in him, and he’s projecting it onto Bucky. God, he needs to get laid and get over this.

At around one in the morning, the three of them decide to head home. Steve must be getting old if he’s starting to think that this is late, but he’s too tired to care at the moment. They part ways with T’Challa at the door, as they’re heading in opposite directions. But Bucky doesn’t drop Steve’s hand as they walk home.

He doesn’t let go of it when they enter their building or get in the elevator. And he doesn’t say anything. Neither of them do. It feels peaceful and good and not weird, so neither of them address it or stop.

When they walk into their apartment, Bucky leans in and gently kisses Steve’s cheek, then wordlessly walks into his own room, while Steve is left out in the living room feeling like he’s at the front row of a fireworks show.

Fuck, he’s so fucking screwed.

**Author's Note:**

> come talk to me on [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/daydreamsteve) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/daydreamsteve) <3


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